Chapter 35 - Stage One (CitC)
The other battlers had come so far with Tubba, they weren't about to abandon him, not with the finish line in sight. However, Tubba had found it nearly impossible to organize a time to inform the other battlers about the plan without someone attempting or being able to tell Clubbette the plan. It did not help that Clubbette had a positive relationship with most of the other battlers, specifically Lukki and Dibby. Lukki had been her teammate, and Dibby had been travelling with her the longest. Tubba, despite himself, had to applaud Clubbette's planning and ability to account for every scenario. As far as the other battlers were concerned, Clubbette was just as keen to do what they came out to do as the rest of them. Tubba had found himself doubting Gonzales and Blizzerd's advice for a few seconds, before reminding himself how close he had come to falling off a mountain cliff. Clubbette was ''not ''to be trusted. The final day before they left drained out faster than Tubba had ever known time to move, and before long, all of them, bar Gonzales and Blizzerd, were boarding the Koopa submarine. Days passed underneath the green water of the Mushroom and Oho Oceans as they travelled to the Koopa Kingdom, where they would board the airships and make the journey north to the Clubba Kingdom. Tubba desperately tried to get the battlers organized in a room to tell them what they would do at the Kingdom. The day to inform them came on Tubba's twenty-fourth birthday, when he finally managed to get the message around to all the other battlers. It did not occur in a closed atmosphere and a locked room with everyone as he had envisioned it, rather it was passed along as a message to all the other battlers, and if they had any questions, they would come and find Tubba. There were various questions from the battlers over the intricacies of his plan, but to his surprise, no one showed a desire to back out. Not even Xavier, who was only in it for himself. Tubba had promised him some gold from the treasury of the Clubba Castle to ensure that Xavier wouldn't get cold feet and tell the battler aboard the Koopa submarine the information she wasn't supposed to hear. Each day passed with no issue in the plan. Tubba could scarcely believe it. He had expected Clubbette to find out, so that they would have to change the plan. So many of his plans had failed over the years, so many had blown up in his face... but this one seemed immune. They exited the Koopa submarine, walked into the Castle of the enemy, still treated like high ranking Koopa officers. The Koopa Kingdom would take seven airships to the Clubba Castle. According to Bowser, the Mushroom Kingdom were too focused on the loss of their most powerful ship in the Waffle Kingdom and were reinforcing the key areas on the borders of the Koopa Kingdom. The last thing they would be expecting would be a powerful assault on the Clubba Kingdom land. Ludwig had hand-picked the Koopalings he wanted to pilot each airship. The only one not selected was Lemmy, who, once again, would stay behind with Bowser. A stroke of luck came their way when Ludwig told them to split up among the airships, and allowed them to choose where each battler would go. Clubbette was sent as the only battler to go with Ludwig's airship, for Tubba didn't back any of the hijacking battlers to defeat Ludwig, who not only had the physical brawn of Roy, but also the brains of Iggy. The other ten battlers were split among four airships. Xavier refused to leave Meloetta and Skeloetta, so they went aboard Bowser Jr.'s airship along with Dibby. Tubba teamed up with Darius aboard Iggy's airship, Shazam and Aaron took Wendy's, and Parin and Lukki planned to fell Larry. The journey north to the Clubba Kingdom was the longest five hours of Tubba's life. Although the airships were capable of tearing across the sky, Ludwig had them going at a sedate speed, to preserve the energy of the Power Stars for the battle. The airships were the classic ones, built with propellers and resembled the ones that had been used twenty years ago in Bowser's last major successful conquest of the seven main sub-Kingdoms of the Mushroom Kingdom, Sarasaland aside. It was powered by a plasma cannon engine, older technology but useful nonetheless. The battlers had agreed that they would only hijack the airships when the Clubba Kingdom came into sight. Approaching from the south, that would be when the dark trees of Forever Forest came into sight. Iggy had been quite nice to Tubba aboard the airship, but Gonzales' voice rang in Tubba's head everytime Iggy made an approach across the sleek, polished wood of the airship. Tubba spoke with a guarded edge, but mentally, he was running through how to defeat Iggy in battle. He had beaten both Ludwig and Iggy in battle ten years ago, but that was before either of them had a large handle on electricity. The bridge of the airship was occupied by Iggy, a few high ranking Koopatrols, Darius and Tubba. The Koopatrols would be fairly easy to defeat, but Iggy would be another story. Peeking out his window at regular intervals, Tubba lost count around thirty. What he did know was a few minutes after he lost count, he saw the telltale dark leaves of Forever Forest. Exchanging a glance with Darius, they sprung into action. The Koopatrols, unsuspecting, were either punched by Tubba's meaty red fist and lay against the wall, knocked out, or Darius' shurikens sliced across their armour, leaving them defenceless Koopa Troopas to Darius' hefty kicks. Before Iggy knew what was happening, both Darius and Tubba tackled him, sending the middle Koopaling to the floor. "What are you doing?!" Iggy exclaimed, as Tubba pinned his arms around his head. Darius, meanwhile, drove shurikens into the area around Iggy's legs, preventing him from thrashing his legs unless he wanted to get his scales cut. "Liberating my Kingdom!" Tubba slammed a heavy fist down on Iggy's skull, knocking the middle Koopaling out before he could anything else except bulge out his eyes in disbelief. The blow wasn't enough to kill Iggy -- merely knock him out for a few hours. With a quick glance around, Tubba saw that the bridge was virtually empty, save for the knocked out bodies of the Koopatrols and Iggy. "Tie Iggy up." Tubba ordered Darius, who would've normally recoiled at being ordered around by Tubba. However, he clearly recognized the severity of the situation, doing as he was asked. Tubba, stepping off the motionless body of the Iglator-Koopa, headed over to the door of the bridge, locking it. The last thing they needed was more Koopas piling over to the bridge, understanding that the airship was no longer in the control of the Koopa Kingdom. When Tubba reached the yoke that controlled the airship, he yanked it hard to the right. That was the agreed upon plan by the battlers, pulling the hijacked airships to the right. Sure enough, as he looked out the window, the airships of Larry, Wendy and Junior were also pulling away from the pack of Ludwig, Roy and Morton. Tubba couldn't believe his luck. The first stage of his plan had gone exactly as he had planned it.